Questar delays its Southern California pipeline

The company

Questar Corp. announced in its last quarterly stockholder report that the Southern Trails Pipeline project has been postponed and shall not be active before its original opening in early 2017.

The pipeline

Questar owns a 58 year old pipeline – that has not been operated since it was purchased in 1998 – which travels through south California, where its 16 in. pipes stretch 96 miles.

The company has plans to connect the unused pipeline to an active one, which runs from Whitewater to refineries in Long Beach. Its pumping of 120 000 bpd through a rail terminal would connect shipment trains to the unused pipeline.

Maintenance and testing

The pipeline has been maintained even while not in use for the past 17 years and operations would have to be run by modern standards.

The pipeline would have to pass specialised firms tests at least every five years, and Fire Marshal inspections at least every three.

The result?

A decision on the future of the project is expected in the next six months.